Three original Andy Pandy puppets to be auctioned

The three puppets include an original Andy Pandy

Three of the puppets used in the original Andy Pandy TV series are to be sold at auction.

The puppets include one of only two surviving original Andy Pandys, with the other in the London Museum, along with a Looby Loo and a Teddy.

They had been kept by Freda Lingstrom, one of the show's creators, at her home in Chartwell Lodge, Kent.

She gifted them to her long-term cleaner, whose grandchild is putting them up for auction, with the collection expected to sell for up to £12,500.

First broadcast in 1950 as part of the Watch With Mother strand, Andy Pandy was a marionette who lived in a picnic basket with his two friends.

The programme was shown extensively up to the early 1970s, but was revived as a cartoon in 2002.

Andy Pandy was launched on BBC television in 1950

They will be shown as three separate lots by C&T auctioneers on 19 January.

The Andy Pandy and Teddy puppets are expected to fetch between £3,000 and £5,000 each, while Looby Loo has an estimate of between £1,500 and £2,500.